On a Wednesday, in a Cafe
by thedemonmatchmaker
Summary: When Erza gets stood up for a date, she doesn't expect to be saved by a handsome stranger (College AU)


**On a Wednesday, In a Cafe**

The beautiful girl sat there, looking expectantly at the clock on the wall near her. 30 minutes. 35 minutes. 45 minutes. The seconds ticked by, leaving and never returning, but the young woman simply sat at her two person table, alone.

With a small chime of the door, someone stepped into the cafe where Erza Scarlet waited alone for her no-show date. She quickly turned her head, a small part of her still expecting her date to walk through the door. A small child accompanied by her mother walked in instead, leaving the university student frowning.

"Excuse me, Miss," a chirpy waitress stood patiently by the small table near the window where Erza was currently angrily sipping her vanilla latte. "Are you ready to order?"

It took everything in the criminology major to not glare at her. When the redhead looked up, though, she noticed a look of pity on the face of the server. She wrinkled her nose at the display of unwanted emotion. She tried not to look bitchy, but failed epically.

"A few more minutes, please." she said, her voice coming out more even and polite than she expected. As she heard another customer enter the quaint cafe, she ran through her limited options in her head.

The first one to come to mind was to just leave with what little dignity she had left. She could easily just walk through the door and never come back to the cafe again. Sadly, Erza knew that wasn't an option. That particular bakery had the most deliciously flaky strawberry cake in all of Magnolia. After all, cake meant the world (and more) to the university student.

Her only other option was to just suck up the annoyingly condescending looks the other customers gave her. She seriously considered it, because staying meant unlimited strawberry cake. But all these regards of pity made the redhead feel extremely self-conscious and there was only so much a person, even someone as strong as her, could take before wanting to hide for the rest of their lives.

Erza decided to take the coward's way out and leaned over to pull a five dollar bill from her purse in order to leave. As much as she wanted the legendary cake, she also knew that her self-esteem was more important. As she sat back up, bill in hand, she was shocked to see someone taking a seat in the empty spot across the table from her.

"Sorry I'm so late, darling," the strange man apologized as he took off his light sweater and put it across the back of his chair. He moved so smoothly and casually that it took Erza a few seconds to realize she had absolutely no idea who he was. "Professor Porlyusica wanted a word after class."

The mysterious bluenette leaned over the table and whipsered softly,

"My name is Jellal, just trust me and go with it. The man who stood you up is a blind moron." Fitting to her name, the redhead's cheeks burned bright scarlet at his comment. As Jellal leaned back in his seat, Erza got her first real look at her "date".

And the sight took her breath away.

His unique hair matched his light blue button-up shirt. The man looked extremely well put together for someone who was still in college. Professor Porlyusica was Mavis University's Head of Health Sciences. For him to have dropped her name like that, he must've be in her program, the criminology major analyzed quickly. A red face tattoo covered half his face, a big contrast from the rest of his soft features.

Most of all, Erza loved his eyes. Though they were brown like most, his shined and glimmered. From the second she saw him seated across from her, she couldn't take her eyes off his. He smirked and quickly winked, making the young woman blush yet again.

"O-of course, sweetie," she stuttered nervously. His smirk widened into a full-blown grin as she agreed to his plan. At least this way, she tried reasoning with herself, I can try the cake without dying of shame.

The pair waited in silence until Jellal caught the attention of the waitress from before. Raising both of her eyebrows, the young server came over. She stood beside the table for a short second, surprised by the fact that someone had finally come and joined Erza at her table.

"Are you two ready to order?" she finally said, staring at Jellal. She looked him up and down and smiled flirtatiously. The redhead felt a sudden surge of anger towards the waitress, even more than before. She knew that the bluenette across from her wasn't actually her date, but the waitress didn't know this. Why was she looking at Jellal like that?

The man, sensing the awkward stare-down happening between the waitress and his "date" quickly ordered a coffee and sandwich for himself and, being the mind-reader he was, ordered a strawberry cake for the girl across. While he ordered, she smiled over at him.

Just then, in that exact moment, Erza Scarlet realized something.

She was fond of the young man smirking at her from across the small wooden table in the cafe with the legendary strawberry cake.

How was this possible? She wasn't a mushball like Lucy who believed in love at first sight. She was a stone cold criminology major who's life mission was to defeat the evil in the world, not to find her soulmate or something cheesy of the sorts.

But, the second their eyes met again, Erza realized that she was too late.

And, two hours, three slices of cake and an unmeasurable amount of smiling and laughter later, the redhead found herself being walked home by her mysterious knight.

Erza stood at the door of the dorm she shared with Lucy, smiling as Jellal complimented her hair once more and blushed when he leaned in to kiss her cheek.

While she was still stuttering and blushing because of the peck, the blue-haired health science major took advantage of her mushy brain and asked her out, for a real date this time.

Of course, Erza readily agreed.

Because, after all, even if unplanned things like this happen, you mustn't ever let them pass through your fingers.


End file.
